MELIA CAYO SANTA MARIA — Hotel in Caibarién

I returned yesterday from my 25 stay at this hotel and once again I only have positive things to say about this resort.||The resort is situated at the most beautiful beach and even after being there 25 times it still blows my mind how beautiful it is. If you are a beach person you will not be disappointed.||Location - The hotel is located about 1.5 hours away from the airport but the drive there allows you to see 3 different towns in Cuba and to hear about the history. The buses are comfortable and the drive goes by quickly as you enjoy the views. Once you arrive and see the beach the bus ride will seem like 5 minutes.||Rooms - The rooms are spacious and very comfortable and kept very clean. A big thank you to Adonis, Sandy and team for doing a great job with keeping our rooms clean and comfortable and making sure we have everything we need. The beds are comfortable and no issue with warm water or water pressure or our ac. A big thank you to Eduardo for keeping our mini fridges well stocked and keeping us hydrated. Your room comes with an iron and ironing board, hair dryer, and a kettle. ||Food/Buffet - I have been travelling to Cuba for the last 12 years and I have never had issues with food. Yes the food may be slightly different from food in Canada but different is not bad and I think that keeping in mind that we are in a different country is important. It is a perfect opportunity to try something new and if there are things you really want from home feel free to bring them if you can't be without for the week. The food this week was amazing with lots of varieties at the buffet. There was a great selection of veggies, fruit, cheese, bread, cold cuts, eggs to name a few. And don't get me started on the desserts. The chefs and cooks do a wonderful job preparing meals. There are also custom stations where you can choose what and how you would like something cooked. From omelettes to fish to beef to pasta the possibilities are endless. A special thank you to Daniel, Frank and Yennier at the buffet for taking the time to prepare special meals for my sister and I. Your efforts are much appreciated and the meals were amazing not only in taste but in presentation. Thank you for taking great care of us and the rest of the guests.||Lobby Bar - The lobby bar is where I start my day with a coffee and end it with a cocktail.I am not a big coffee drinker at home and have 1 a day but the coffee varieties are so great here that I usually have about 3. You also have lots of options like iced coffee, Spanish coffee or a cappuccino to name a few and every one of them is delicious. Once you have had a coffee, continue the day with a cold glass of beer or a specially made cocktail. Mojito, rum and coke, vodka soda, white wine, espresso martini are some of my recommendations but not your only options. The team at the lobby bar does an amazing job making sure customers have drinks in their hands at all times. Big thank you to Juan Carlos, Norge, Ernesto, Ezequiel, Yoelvi, Yaisan to name a few and the rest of the team for working so hard.||Pool Bar - Lots of great varieties at the pool bar and Yoseet and Jose do a great job keeping everyone happy with a drink in their hand. Thank you.||Beach Bars - There are 2 great beach bars at this resort where you can enjoy a great drink with an amazing ocean view. This week both beach bars were making special lunches which we got to enjoy and the food at both beach bars never disappoint. Thank you to Nestor and Yosvany for an amazing lunch. The soup was absolutely incredible and so was the fish. A special thank you also to Darbel from the entertainment team for helping with the special arrangements. To Yoandry and Gerly at Bar Nativa the food and service at your bar is amazing and we love spending time here. The chicken lunch you prepared was cooked just perfectly and was delicious. ||Entertainment - No matter what age you are and what your interests are there is always something to do with the entertainment team. Arel has a great team that keeps the guests happy with dance lessons, night shows with an incredible group of dancers, aqua gym, pool parties, beach volleyball. If you have kids there is always something great for them to do and Nayibi and Juana do a great job taking care of them. Thank you to the team for keeping things fun for all the quests. Darbel, Alex, Julio, Arel, Nayibi, Juana, Marin thank you for doing such a great job. Felipe you were missed this week.||To the rest of the staff at my happy place that I may have not mentioned above please know your efforts and hard work do not go unrecognised. Daymara at reception thank you for always taking great care of us and making sure we have our favourite room. To all the wait staff at all the restaurants thank you for all your hard work Yamile and Ariel you are a dream team and we thank you for taking care of us. Yuni and Ana we love you. Jose thank you for taking care of our beach towel needs. To all the gardeners thank you for keeping the place looking amazing always. ||We had a fantastic time and had no shortages this week and are already planning our 26th visit. I would not have been returning to a resort and spending my hard earned money for the 26th time if there was an issue with the resort. Every single employee at this resort does their absolute best to make guests happy and that goes for a guest who has been there 20 times or if it is their first visit. Best of the best. See you all soon. Thank you from the bottom...

I Just came back form my 25th trip to Melia Cayo Santa Maria. I always get asked why I come back to the same resort. In one word “People”. The Staff at this resort is like no other. I felt this way on my first trip and I still feel the same way 12 years later.||There were 64 repeat guests the same week that I was there and I think that speaks volumes.||The resort is beautiful and well maintained. The gardeners work extremely hard every day to ensure the ground are well taken care of. Same goes for the two beautiful pools. ||The rooms are spacious and cleaned daily. Adonis took amazing care of our rooms all week. Thank you so much my friend. Your daily towel art on my bed was something I looked forward to.||A big thank you to Eduardo for making sure we had plenty of water every day in our fridge.||I cannot say enough about the bartenders. They are on their feet all day long and they make sure everyone has a drink. They always have a smile on their faces and are very attentive and friendly. Juan Carlos, Norge, Ernesto, Ezequiel, Yoelvi, Yaisan you are all amazing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the daily attention. Your coffee and drinks are delicious and I love how you remember our orders without having to even ask.||The Pool bar staff is beyond perfect. I can’t say enough about Yoseet and Jose. They spot me and my sister a mile away and get our drinks to us before we can even sit down. They run around the pool all day with drinks for everyone and you don’t even have to walk over to the bar. They truly spoil us. Thank you so much. I love you both||There was plenty of food and so much variety. There is a 24 hour snack bar with the best pizza and the 2 beach bars sever fresh lunch as well. The buffet has something for everyone and the food is fresh and delicious. A big thank you to Frank, Daniel and Yennier for making us special lunches and dinners. We appreciate and love you all so much. ||Our waiters which we call “the dream team” Ariel and Yamille take such good care of us that I can’t wait to wake up and go to breakfast just to see them both. They are attentive and loving and they work so hard. We thank you so much for always going that extra mile for us. You are truly loved.||Nestor and Yosvany at the beach bar. I can’t even put into words how hard you work and how much you take care of all your customers. The drinks are always flowing and you always make us feel special. You make the most amazing lunches. I highly recommend trying the lunch at the beach bar. We had the most amazing bean soup and fish and rice for lunch last week. I could eat that every day. ||A big thank you to our wonderful friend from the entertainment team Darbel for organizing this lunch and for going the extra mile to ensure we had a meal we would enjoy. Darbel you are one of the most kind hearted people. You never disappoint us. You are always there and welcome us with open arms. We love you so much. You are our family. ||Alex the DJ always ensures that the crowd has the music the want to hear. He caters to everyone and plays a great variety of music either at the beach or at the lobby bar after the show. Alex is very hard working and up very early in the morning preparing for the day as well as the last one to go to bed as he needs to entertain the evening crowd. Alex has the dance floor full every night and he made all the guests happy and dancing every night. We love you Alex. You always play all of our favorite songs. Thank you.||Yoandry and Gerly at the beach bar, thank you so much for the wonderful meal you made us last week. The meals are not only delicious they are also so well put together and look to nice to eat ha ha. Thank you for the continued amazing service that you provide to you all your guests. We appreciate you.||Daymara and all the ladies at the front desk, thank you. You work long hour and you are always there when an issue arises. You take extra care of all the guest and we truly appreciate you. Thank you for always ensuring we have our favorite rooms ready.||The bell boys are always welcoming and ready to help you check in and check out. Thank you for being up all night and taking care of the late night arrivals. We appreciate you||I hear a lot of negative things about Cuba and I always tell people that we need to understand that the Cuban people are limited and that Cuba may not have all the things you have at home. The one thing I can promise everyone reading this review is that the people at Melia Cayo Santa Maria will always do their best with what they have and they do it with pride. I come back here every few months for that reason. Thank you so much to my second family. You are all appreciated and always in our hearts....

I want to start by saying that the resort itself and beaches were very nice. On that note there are a few things you should know about this resort. First even if they have 4 restaurant you need to reserve it before noon the day before which means if your there for a weekend you're screwed because check in is at 4. They only open two restaurants at a time only only allow like 5 couples at a time so they never have availability which forces you to go to the buffet. group of 27 and never visited one restaurant. When we complained they said they would set up a birthday dinner for my father the following day and when we arrived they said they couldn't do it no matter what. Buffet which is always the same and pretty disgusting. Ham and cheese is old. Spaghetti or Mac n cheese taste weird and they never have extra cheese. There salads were mainly with seafood which I would not touch with a ten foot pole. There food was mostly undercooked and once you sat down to eat the 4 people they had for you to serve water and get you drinks was not enough so you would sit there waiting. Then they would all have attitudes. I went with a big group and could not eat together one day. There all day open snack bar served pizza (not made with pizza sauce)with french fries. Do not order that with the ham 🤮. At the beach they have Bbq from 12-3 this guy was always nice but not all of the food was cooked all the way. I took my daughter with me and she had many issues eating. I got a stomach virus and was hurting for a week and a half. Which is horrible as they don't have toilet paper in any of there bathrooms. I believe they did not change our sheets the whole week we were there and never replaced the towels. Sometimes you would call and they would send you some and sometimes you would stay with the dirty towels. Towels had stains and rips. A/c was only good at night. During the day when the cleaning lady would leave your door open the room never recovered until night time. Mind you we had 11 rooms in our group. So all the complaints were the same. They do not have any medical assistance there either. The attention and service was worst I have seen in and country and I have travelled. When we went to check out they even told us they were happy to see us go 🤦‍♀️. Bartenders were slow and there main liquor was everything made with Havana club which I do not care for. I will never go to any resort in Cuba again. I love visiting my family but trying to do something nice for them definitely backfired with this venue. /Spanish:Quierzar diciendo que el complejo en sí y las playas eran muy agradables. En ese sentido, hay algunas cosas que debe saber sobre este complejo. Primero, incluso si tienen 4 restaurantes, debe reservarlos antes del mediodía del día anterior, lo que significa que si está allí durante un fin de semana, está jodido porque el registro es a las 4. Solo abren dos restaurantes a la vez, solo permiten 5 parejas. a la vez para que nunca tengan disponibilidad, lo que te obliga a ir al buffet. grupo de 27 y nunca visitó un restaurante. Cuando nos quejamos, dijeron que organizarían una cena de cumpleaños para mi padre al día siguiente y cuando llegamos, dijeron que no podían hacerlo sin importar qué. Buffet que siempre es igual y bastante desagradable. El jamón y el queso son viejos. Los espaguetis o los macarrones con queso tienen un sabor extraño y nunca tienen queso extra. Las ensaladas eran principalmente con mariscos que no tocaría con un poste de diez pies. La comida estaba cruda en su mayoría y una vez que te sentabas a comer a las 4 personas que tenían para que te sirviera agua y bebidas, no era suficiente, así que te sentarías a esperar. Entonces todos tendrían actitudes. Fui con un grupo grande y no pude comer juntos un día. Allí, durante todo el día, el snack bar abierto sirve pizza (no hecha con salsa de pizza) con papas fritas. No pidas eso con el jamón . No me cupo todo en...